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  #1  
Old 12-08-2014, 01:57 PM
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Airbag did not deploy

I was driving 45 mph on a four lane road near my house (OKC) at 7 am and three deer jumped a fence then raced in front of me (never seen deer there in 20 years of driving that road). I missed the first two but hit the third one despite slamming hard on the brakes. There is considerable damage to the left front of the 2012 X5 and coolant flowed freely.

I was distraught because of hitting a deer that the police dept. would not save so for the first 4 hours of calling insurance, BMW Assist, etc., I didn't pay much attention to my own injuries.

I doubt there is little than bruises (on me) but I am more than frustrated that the airbag did not deploy. I was planning to leave this Sat for 3K miles of driving and now I am wondering about protection for the driver.

Is this a common complaint with the E70s? Can I trust the BMW + insurance approved body shop to get it right? I took pictures of everything except the dash that had a big red light about the failure of the airbag to deploy but I guess they can find that by looking at the codes, right?
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  #2  
Old 12-08-2014, 02:33 PM
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I am glad you are Ok.Experience like that is never good,but everything that doesnt kill us makes us stronger.And wiser sometimes.
There is no such thing like a warning light on the dash that the airbag did not deploy.it is a warning light that the SRS(airbag) system was triggered in some way and is no more active at the moment.BMW has a smart airbag system,and I dare to say very efficient.Most cars will deploy airbags at impact at any speed over 20-25 MPH.But such event as having a "date" between your head and the deploying airbag is not so innocent like it sounds.Your head is travelling with -20-30-50G negative acceleration and form the front comes the airbag with 4-5 times this speed.Never happened to me and I dont feel it is going to be good.
So,the BMW airbag system will take a different measures given the speed, the negative acceleration and the direction of travel of the car.At low speed at may trigger the seatbelt pretensioner only and not the airbag(s).At higher speed it may trigger the first stage of the airbag only,causing less strength of the impact.At higher speeds both stages of the airbag will be deployed+the curtain airbags.The passenger belts/airbags will be deployed only if there is a passenger 50lbs or more on the seat.My guess is your bruises are from the seatbelt.Of course there is always a chance that the airbag failed to deploy,but I highly doubt that.
i bought mine '12 X5D after it was in severe accident.my guess is that it went out of the road at speeds 60-90 Mph.All wheels were bent,all airbags deployed,some damaged suspension,etc.I am pretty sure all passengers were safe and sound.There are a very few cars on the market now that could offer such a protection,passive and active.The body structure is made of wisely engineered and heavily reinforced elements.Unlike the Japanese cars,there is a real metal in this panzer
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Old 12-08-2014, 03:00 PM
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Thank you for a helpful response.

Unfortunately, I cannot take a photo of my memory but after the accident there was a large red icon in the middle of the dials and my nav screen had an icon and text in red. I thought the text said something about airbag failure, but there was also something about the seat-belts too I think.

Although I have not gone to ER, my chest is pretty sore and I have a low grade whiplash. I know the cabin is great, but I expected better protection in this scenario.

I am searching online to see if someone has posted a photo of what I saw on the nav screen.
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Last edited by GPSnV1; 12-08-2014 at 03:09 PM.
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Old 12-08-2014, 03:17 PM
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Okay, if I uploaded the file correctly below is the red airbag icon I saw,

Edited to say here is the text I think I saw in the nav screen:

"FAULT IN PASSENGER RESTRAINT SYSTEM AFFECTING AIRBAG BELT TENSIONER OR BELT FORCE LIMITER. CONTINUE TO WEAR SAFETY BELT DESPITE FAULT."
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Old 12-08-2014, 05:05 PM
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yes,that is the message that you will get because the system was already activated and it will not be active until all the deployed airbags and belts are replaced and the module has been reset.
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Old 12-08-2014, 05:15 PM
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Here are a couple of photos (that I do not know how to rotate) of the exterior damage:
Attached Images
  
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Old 12-08-2014, 10:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GPSnV1 View Post
but I expected better protection in this scenario.
n.
Before you get freaked out, the seat belt tensioners probably blew, which is why you now have the SRS warning. These cars have staged SRS deployment- likely you did not have enough deceleration of the car's mass to trip airbags. You dont want airbags to go off with any old impact, you want to save them for the big impact. So I dont think your car failed, just based on 'the airbag didnt deploy and I now have a warning'. That really is a very minor amount of damage.

Ive responded over on BF.....

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Old 12-09-2014, 01:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ard View Post
Before you get freaked out, the seat belt tensioners probably blew, which is why you now have the SRS warning. These cars have staged SRS deployment- likely you did not have enough deceleration of the car's mass to trip airbags. You dont want airbags to go off with any old impact, you want to save them for the big impact. So I dont think your car failed, just based on 'the airbag didnt deploy and I now have a warning'. That really is a very minor amount of damage.

Ive responded over on BF.....

GL
I agree here.As far as I know you have to drive with speed over 70 km/h so the airbags get deployed.
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Old 12-09-2014, 02:05 PM
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Is there an echo here
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Old 12-09-2014, 02:38 PM
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Originally Posted by bawareca View Post
Is there an echo here
Truly.

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